Receptacle packeted sugar, condiments and the like

ABSTRACT

A structure having a base with a receptacle mounted thereon for rotation about a vertical axis. The base is weighted and the receptacle has a bottom wall rotatably connected to the base and side walls extending vertically therefrom which form an open top enclosure. The side walls are inwardly concave and at their opposite vertical edges there are lateral, vertically extending grooves adapted to receive the edges of cards of greater width than the straight line distances between the grooves with the portions therebetween displaced inwardly in engagement with said concave wall.

O Umted States Patent 1 1111 3,711,975

Downing 1 Jan. 23, 1973 [5 1 RECEPTACLE PACKETED SUGAR, 436,135 9/1890Hoffmann ..206/44.11

CONDIMENTS AND T IKE 1,367,948 2/1921 Curtin ..221/284 1,864,874 6/1932Voight ....220/D1G. 6 [751 Dmvninlb Smneham- 1,527,024 2/1925Brookbank.... ..40/68 1,020,175 3/1912 Arnold ...40/124 [73 Assisnee;Howard Johnson Company 3,041,762 7/1962 Knox ..40/152 Dorchesm Mass2,515,053 7/1950 Ncscl "40 1521 [22] Filed: 5, 1970 PrimaryExaminer-Robert W. Michell 2 App| 7 143 Attorney-Roberts, Cushman &Grover [57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. C1 ..40/77.8, 40/10 51 1111. c1 ..G09f11/02 A Structure having a base with a receptacle mounted [58] Fi ld f Sh 40/1, 44, 65, 68 124, 152, thereon for rotation about a vertical axis.The base is 40/152,], 156, 306, 77,8; 220/318, 17, DIG, weighted and thereceptacle has a bottom wall 6, DIG. 27; 221/119, 284, 287; 211/70, 78;rotatably connected to the base and side walls extend- 206/44 R, 44.11,45.19, DIG. 22, DIG. 29, ing vertically therefrom which form an open topen- 44 B; 229/8; 248/131, 458, 349 closure. The side walls are inwardlyconcave and at their opposite vertical edges there are lateral, verti-[56] References Cited cally extending grooves adapted to receive theedges of cards of greater width than the straight line UNITED STATESPATENTS distances between the grooves with the portions 2,614,68910/1952 Bell ..211/70 therebetween displaced inwardly in engagement with459,972 9/1891 Chubbuck.... .220/l T said concave wall, 2,059,09010/1931 Cornelius..... ...221/199 1,696,080 12/1928 Draggie ..22l/284 4Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 32 26 I l I I, /z lC/l \(NUC I mm (m/HRH! 5-RECEPTACLE PACKETED SUGAR, CONDIMENTS AND THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION Rotatably supported receptacles commonly referred to as LazySusans are used for many purposes and hence are not new per se. Thepresent structureis of the foregoing kind especially designed forholding packets of sugar, condiments, and the like, for customer use inrestaurants, hotel dining rooms, clubs, and the like, where it is notonly desirable to provide an adequate supply of packeted sugar orcondiments for customers but is also desirable to provide for displayingthe menu-of-the-day, specialities and/or the name of the establishmentand affiliated establishments for advertising purposes, and especiallyto be able to replace the aforesaid easily for day-to-day changes.

SUMMARY As herein illustrated, the structure comprises a base, areceptacle mounted on the base for turning about a vertical axis, saidreceptacle having a bottom rotatably connected to the base, and sidewalls rising therefrom to form an enclosure open at the top, said sidewalls between their vertical edges being inwardly concave and havingat'their vertical edges laterally extending grooves for receiving theopposite edges of cards wider than the shortest distance between thegrooves to hold the cards with the portions therebetween bowed inwardlyagainst the concave sides of the walls. The base has a horizontalsection at least as great as that of the structure, is hollow andcontains ballast of a predetermined weight such as to counterbalance theexpected weight of the content of the receptacle. The bottom of thestructure has straight edges, at the intersecting corners of which thereare vertically disposed posts and.

the vertical edges of the walls are secured between the posts. Theportions of the bottom wall between the posts and the inwardly concavewalls comprise ledges against which the lower edges of the cards areseated. There is a rim secured to the upper ends of the posts, the outeredges of which parallel the outer edges of the bottom and overlie theupper ends of the grooves and the inner edges of which correspond inconfiguration to the inwardly concave walls. The base has on its uppersurface an annular shoulder and the bottom wall has on its lower surfacea plurality of radially disposed bearing blocks for engagement with theaforesaid shoulder to stabilize the receptacle and to provide asubstantially frictionless bearing to enable easily to rotate thereceptacle on the base.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. I is a top view of the structure looking into the open top;

FIG. 2 is an elevation with a portion of one wall broken away;

FIG. 3 is an elevation taken on the line 33 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an elevation taken on the line 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken-on theline 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary diametrical section of the base showing themeans for attaching it to the receptacle; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view ofa card adapted to be mounted against a side wallof the structure.

Referring to the drawings, the structure comprises a base 10 on whichthere is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis a receptacle 12, thelatter having a bottom wall 14 and vertically disposed side walls 16. Asherein illustrated, the bottom 14 is of rectangular configuration havingfour straight side edges 18, at the corners of which there arevertically disposed posts 20. The side walls 16 are connected at theirvertical edges to the posts 20 and there are at the vertical side edgesat their junctions with the posts 20 vertically disposed, laterallyextending grooves 22. The side walls 16 are inwardly concave, as shownin FIG. 5, so that at the bottom there are lenticular-shaped ledges 24.A rim 26 is secured to the upper ends of the posts 20, the outer edges28 of which are parallel to the edges 18 at the bottom and the inneredges 30 of which correspond in curvature to the inner sides of theconcave walls 16 and which have downwardly extending flanges 32 whichengage the inner sides of the walls 16 and form a smooth opening at thetop of the receptacle.

The bottom 14 contains a plurality of arcuate openings 34 disposedconcentrically with respect tothe vertical axis of the receptacle toprovide for ventilation and each of the walls contains near the top anopening 36 to enable easily mounting and dismounting cards within thegrooves as will appear hereinafter.

The base 10 has four radially extending legs 38 and is hollow. At theupper side of the base there is a circular boss 40 containing acentrally located opening 42 through which extends a button 44 having ahead 46 located within the receptacle and a nipple 48 adapted to extendthrough the opening 42 into the base. Alock ring 49 at the lower end ofthe nipple holds the bottom in place thus rotatably securing thereceptacle to the base for rotation about its vertical axis.

Ballast comprising a pair of metal washers 50 are disposed in the hollowbase about the nipple of a predetermined weight such as tocounterbalance the weight of the material to be placed in thereceptacle.

To stabilize the bottom of the receptacle with reference to the base andto provide for free, substantially frictionless rotation the boss 40 hasat its upper side an annular shoulder 52 which is relatively narrow andthe bottom has fixed to it a plurality of radially disposed bearingblocks 54 adapted to bear against the shoulder 52. These bearing blocks54 may be formed integral with the bottom or attached thereto and arecomprised ofa relatively hard slippery material.

The structure thus described is designed to receive in one or more ofits four sides a card 56 which is wider than the straight line distancebetween the grooves 22, so that when disposed in the grooves with itsupper and lower edges engaged with the ledges at the bottom and with therim at the top it will be displaced rearwardly into engagement with theconcave side of the wall 16 and will be retained in this position by theelasticity of the card. The card may bear upon its surface the name ofthe establishment in which the structure is 'used and/or associatedestablishments, the menu-of-the-day and/or specialities, and theprovision of the openings 36 in the wall enable easily removing andreplacing these cards.

The structure, although shown herein as rectangular, may have a lesseror greater number of sides, may be comprised of molded plastic or anyother suitable material, is structurally simple, durable, antiseptic,attractive and inexpensive to manufacture.

it should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes all modificationsand equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A structure comprising a receptacle, a base and means rotatablysupporting the receptacle on the base for turning about a vertical axis,said receptacle comprising a bottom wall, posts supported at their lowerends on the bottom wall, said posts being spaced about the vertical axisat equal radial distances therefrom and at equal angular distances fromeach other, side walls having upper, lower and side edges situatedbetween adjacent posts with their lower edges resting on the bottom walland with their side edges connected to the posts, said side walls beingtransversely inwardly concave, a cap mounted on the upper ends of thepost, said cap having an outer edge corresponding in configuration tothe outer edge of the bottom wall and containing an opening of a sizeand configuration corresponding to the inside of the receptacle, aflange around said opening extending downwardly therefrom inside theside walls in engagement therewith and supporting the side walls attheir upper ends, said flange forming a smooth entrance at the open topof the receptacle,

grooves in the confronting sides of the adjacent posts extending frombottom to top, said grooves being situated at the outer sides of theside walls adjacent the junctions of the side walls with the posts, andcards wider than the distance between the grooves disposed with theiredges in said grooves and the portions therebetween bowed inwardly intoengagement with the concave surfaces of the side walls.

2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein there is means rotatablyconnecting the bottom wall of the receptacle to the top of the basecomprising a pin extending from. inside the bottom wall downwardlythrough the bottom wall into the base, means at the ends of the pinretaining the ends in the receptacle and base, and mutually engagedannular bearing members at the underside of the bottom wall of thereceptacle and the upper side of the base concentric with the axis ofthe pin.

3. A structure according to claim 2, wherein the base is hollow, the pinextends into the hollow base and the means retaining the lower end ofthe pin within the base comprises a ballast for supporting the structurein stable equilibrium.

4. A structure according to claim 1, wherein the side walls contain attheir upper ends openings through which the inner sides of the cards areaccessible and the bottom wall contains a plurality of vent openingsarranged concentrically about the axis of rotation.

1. A structure comprising a receptacle, a base and means rotatablysupporting the receptacle on the base for turning about a vertical axis,said receptacle comprising a bottom wall, posts supported at their lowerends on the bottom wall, said posts being spaced about the vertical axisat equal radial distances therefrom and at equal angular distances fromeach other, side walls having upper, lower and side edges situatedbetween adjacent posts with their lower edges resting on the bottom walland with their side edges connected to the posts, said side walls beingtransversely inwardly concave, a cap mounted on the upper ends of thepost, said cap having an outer edge corresponding in configuration tothe outer edge of the bottom wall and containing an opening of a sizeand configuration corresponding to the inside of the receptacle, aflange around said opening extending downwardly therefrom inside theside walls in engagement therewith and supporting the side walls attheir upper ends, said flange forming a smooth entrance at the open topof the receptacle, grooves in the confronting sides of the adjacentposts extending from bottom to top, said grooves being situated at theouter sides of the side walls adjacent the junctions of the side wallswith the posts, and cards wider than the distance between the groovesdisposed with their edges in said grooves and the portions therebetweenbowed inwardly into engagement with the concave surfaces of the sidewalls.
 2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein there is meansrotatably connecting the bottom wall of the receptacle to the top of thebase comprising a pin extending from inside the bottom wall downwardlythrough the bottom wall into the base, means at the ends of the pinretaining the ends in the receptacle and base, and mutually engagedannular bearing members at the underside of the bottom wall of thereceptacle and the upper side of the base concentric with the axis ofthe pin.
 3. A structure according to claim 2, wherein the base ishollow, the pin extends into the hollow base and the means retaining thelower end of the pin within the base comprises a ballast for supportingthe structure in stable equilibrium.
 4. A structure according to claim1, wherein the side walls contain at their upper ends openings throughwhich the inner sides of the cards are accessible and the bottom wallcontains a plurality of vent openings arranged concentrically about theaxis of rotation.